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Chestnut and sorrel are essentially the same color, genetically speaking. These horses are red, yellowish red, or reddish brown, and they do not have black points (the points being the mane, tail, and lower legs). Chestnut and sorrel are determined by genes at the E locus. Horses that are ee at that locus are chestnut/sorrel; horses with an E gene at the locus are black (absent other modifiers). Chestnut is recessive to black, meaning that a chestnut bred to a chestnut will always produce a chestnut foal. Two blacks bred together can produce a chestnut foal if both blacks are heterozygous (Ee). In that mating, there's a 25% chance of a chestnut foal, and 75% chance of a black foal. A black horse who is heterozygous (EE) will only produce black foals.
The difference between chestnut and sorrel is somewhat controversial. Some people call the redder versions sorrel; some call the redder versions chestnut. Some people (such as me) call the horses with flaxen manes and tails sorrel; some do not. Some people use one term or the other for all red horses. Some consider sorrel a term for horses who are ridden western, reserving chestnut for horses ridden English. Some breed registries use only chestnut or only sorrel; some use both.
Chestnut comes in a variety of shades.
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Dark chestnut |
Red chestnut |
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Liver chestnut |
"Black chestnut." This color has no relation to black. |
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Medium chestnut |
A dark chestnut foal |
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Liver chestnut |
Dark chestnut |
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Red chestnut |
Light chestnut |
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Medium chestnut |
Dark chestnut |
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Liver chestnut |
The head of a black chestnut |
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At left is a black chestnut foal whose reddish, sunbleached foal coat is shedding off. The dark color being revealed under the red baby fuzz will be the foal's adult color, like the horse above. |
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The foal at right is also "molting." Not as far along in the shedding process, this baby has only begun to shed around the muzzle and eyes, the first places a foal sheds its baby coat. |
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At left is a very dark liver chestnut. |
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Some sorrels are very light in color and are often mistaken for palominos, but a true palomino has no reddish cast to its coat.
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These two horses at the bottom are Belgians. Blond sorrel is very common in that breed.
Below are some examples of a breed of small draft horse called the Haflinger. These horses are always blond sorrel. Many would call them palomino, but they are not, because they breed true to color, as sorrel will and palomino does not (see the palomino page for the reason why).
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